TNA News From The Torch

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

This is TNA News from the Torch. Enjoy.

 

TNA NEWZ:

 

- Russo hasn't been backstage for the last two weeks. Rumors spread at this past week's show that Dutch Mantell has officially taken over writing duties for the shows.

 

- Backstage rumors also said that this coming week Hogan would be telling TNA what his timetable for recovery is, and when the big PPV can be scheduled.

 

- Another reason America's Most Wanted has a lot of locker room heat is because they're tight with certain members of the TNA office, and these office members apparently push AMW to indy promoters who call about booking TNA talent. Even if the promoter doesn't mention AMW, the office guys bring them up and try to get them booked. That doesn't happen for everyone, obviously.

 

- The masked wrestler "X" was Quebeccer Pierre. Wade really hated that angle. He says that TNA could have let Vince McMahon book the X Division for a night, and with Vince purposely booking to kill the division as a money draw for TNA, he couldn't have done much worse than bringing out a big masked lug and having him destroy the X wrestlers. Pierre has lost some weight though, with one wrestler saying it looks like he finally got rid of the cannonball he's been carrying all these years.

 

- The backstage reaction to Lex Luger coming in was actually favorable. One wrestler said the announcement got a pop from the wrestlers watching the monitor backstage.

 

- Terry Funk and the Honky Tonk Man were contacted about coming in the other week, instead of Duggan and Rick Steiner, but they both passed.

 

- Jim Mitchell will probably be gone for a while to sell the end of his feud with Raven. He's one of the few people with guaranteed dates in his contract, so he'll have to be brought back sometime.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

TORCH TALK WITH RAVEN:

 

More about Goldberg!

 

Wade Keller: Do you have a problem with anyone's background in another sport being brought up if they weren't a superstar in that sport?

 

Raven: To me, if he was a guy who played one year of pro football and we talk about him being a football player, and now he's portrayed as the best wrestler we got like they did with Goldberg, that to me is a slap in the face to wrestling. Then the fact that he would always bad-mouth wrestling, "F--- you." The fact that this paying you all this money, giving you a life of luxury and prestige, and all you do is sh-- on it. Even if you think that, don't f--in' say it because it makes us look like a bunch of idiots. You're the top guy in the sport, you're bad-mouthing the sport, and we're bleeding our hearts out for it and all you do is think it's the f---in' sh-ts." That infuriated me. I always liked Bill before he got in the business. I don't see him anymore. I'm sure I'd say hi to him or whatever, but I resent the hell out of him. If you don't love what I do, that's great. But it rewarded you so hugely, don't sh-- on it.

 

Keller: Why do you think he bad-mouthed wrestling?

 

Raven: Because he really didn't give a sh-- about it. He was a gym rat. I know in Atlanta, we've had mutual friends. We all knew each other from the scene. Everybody thinks every big guy can do it, but they can't. Bill happened to have a phenomenal charisma and presence at it because Bill's smart, he's a very smart guy. But I think he would have respected it and never bad-mouthed it if he'd have gone to New York (WWE) because they would have made him earn it like they're doing now. Like Jericho did when he front-facelocked him and choked him out.

 

Keller: So you think Bill Goldberg is a smart guy?

 

Raven: He didn't strike me as stupid. He's smart enough to know... Just because someone is not wrestling-smart doesn't mean they're stupid. Some people just can never grasp wrestling. To me, I don't know how they can't, but they can't grasp the ABCs of it, the Wrestling 101. I've had conversations with Bill. He seems like an intelligent guy. He's not going to win any Pulitzers. I think his mom was a teacher or a violinist. I think he had well-to-do parents. He couldn't have fallen too far from the tree.

 

Keller: When you worked with Bill Goldberg in WCW, did you think he had natural abilities that could blossom, or did you think he had some fatal flaws?

 

Raven: He was never going to learn how to sell. I couldn't get the concept across. I would try to explain to him how to sell. I would say, "Bill, if you got hit in a fight in the stomach, you would double over like this, right? You would be breathing hard." He said, "No, I wouldn't sell it." So I went, "There's no sense having a conversation." If you don't believe you're going to sell in real life, you'll never get to sell in fantasy wrestling, fake life.

 

Then he talks about wrestling indies and stuff.